In
order to make possible a future of peace for coming generations, our first task
is to educate for peace in order to build a culture of peace. Education,
whether it takes place in the family or at school, must be primarily an
education in those spiritual values which give the wisdom and traditions of
each culture their ultimate meaning and power. The human spirit has an innate
yearning for beauty, goodness and truth. This is a reflection of the divine,
God’s mark on each person! This common aspiration is the basis for a sound and
correct notion of morality, which is always centred on the person. Yet men and
women can turn towards goodness only of their own free will, for “human dignity
requires them to act out of a conscious and free choice, as moved in a personal
way from within, and not y their own blind impulses or by exterior constraint”
(Gaudium et
Spes). The goal of
education is to guide and support the development of the freedom to make right
decisions, which may run counter to widespread opinions, the fashions of the
moment, or forms of political and religious ideology. This is the price of
building a culture of peace!
Address to Government and National Leaders, Lebanon Sept 15, 2012
Reflection – Well, meanwhile this week in Ontario
The effect of this law,
and this approach to civil society, is not an education in peace and tolerance.
Children are actually being educated in power politics. The real lesson of the
day, class, is that whoever seizes the reigns of power gets to control the
speech and ultimately the lives of others.
This is not peace; this
is tyranny. This is incipient fascism. Those of my blog readers who do not like
my habit of using that word… well, you don’t live in Ontario
The Pope’s words here
are very telling, very important. A true society of peace and tolerance
requires, demands, a commitment to freedom of speech and conscience. People
must be allowed to freely grapple with competing view and voices in order to
freely choose the true, the good, the beautiful.
Some counter the Pope’s
words by pointing out that the Catholic Church has not exactly been renowned in
its history for its commitment to freedom of thought and conscience. There
is some truth to this, yes. But that
actually makes his words that much stronger. Basically, the Catholic Church has
a long history of mistaken policy about religious freedom and the coercion of
conscience. We have been down that road and paid a heavy price for it
(essentially, the Protestant reformation). We have also repeatedly apologized
for it, not that anyone noticed or remembers.
Disallowing the
Catholic voice calling for religious freedom is like discounting what a
recovering drug addict has to say about cocaine and meth because, ‘well, he did
it!’ Yes, he did, and so he knows where it leads, right?
There is a pernicious
and dangerous idea growing in the formerly Christian nations of Europe and North
America that peace and
tolerance require the suppression of speech and the squelching of minority
views. It is like we believe human beings cannot bear to be exposed to
differing opinions. This is not a path of peace, but a path to a power struggle
to the end—whoever wins gets to suppress everyone else’s views.
Peace and tolerance
require education in virtue and character. We need to be strong enough that we
don’t fly into a homicidal rage or collapse with the vapors when someone tells
us abortion is wrong, or that abortion is right, that marriage is between a man
and a woman or that marriage is whatever the government decided it to be last
week, that contraception is a grave moral evil or that contraception is the
best thing that ever happened to women.
We need to have some
back bone here – all sorts of people think all sorts of things, and the only
truly peaceful society is one is which we all get to have our say and teach our
children what we believe. Otherwise, the goose-stepping jackboots have arrived
at our door step and we appear to have invited them in and offered them a cup
of tea.
Come Holy Spirit,
ReplyDeleteGive us a new breath
Of freedom,
A new heart of fire,
A new strength of purpose,
To see the story of God,
In the people of God.
Come Holy Spirit
Make us a sign of God
In the darkness and poverty
In our world,
Where hope is frail
And daily life
A struggle to survive.
amen
-Yvonne Morland
Lord God,
Whose Son was content to die
To bring new life,
Have mercy on your church,
Which will do anything you ask,
Anything at all,
Except die to be reborn.
Lord Christ,
Forbid us unity
Which leaves us where we are
And as we are:
Welded into one company
But extracted from the battle;
Engaged to be yours,
But not found at your side
Holy Spirit of God,
Reach deeper than our inertia and our fears:
Release us into the freedom of the children of God.
amen
-Ian M Fraser
I have been collecting prayers about freedom and tolerance. Seems like I just needed to have more prayers ...because there are so many ideas out there about it, so, I thought I would share a couple new ones I just found.
Bless you.
Luke 12:51: Suppose you that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division.
ReplyDeleteBe careful of those who work for "peace" as the world understands it. There is nothing more "peaceful" in that sense then a body in the grave.
Dear Father: I appreciate your words. As a Catholic convert, I struggle with the tension between freedom and the "error has no rights". A long time ago, I was young, depressed and stupid. But that era -1970's- was pre-PC. We had great free-wheeling discussions at school and between friends about race, politics, evolution (I had science teachers who did not believe it). Those explorations, maybe paved the way for the Search for Truth which leads to God. But would I have gotten to God without all those mistakes that I made, if authorities whether from Church or State had resorted to force for a particular way of thinking, I am not sure.
ReplyDeleteVickie in Kensington MD