Mark Shea and the Catholic Left

Last updated on: February 3, 2016 at 10:26 am by Dave Griffey

Mark Shea and the Catholic Left 2016-02-03T10:26:00-04:00 Dave Griffey

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

So a reader sent a link to Mark Shea’s Facebook page. I swore bushy tail on that site, and to be honest, I’ve been the happier for it. Nonetheless, he sent it to me and observed that this post explains a lot. And indeed, it does:

“Interesting. Dreyfuss is an old Lefty. But lots of old Lefties are people who, like Rachel Maddow, self-identify as people who would have been happy voting for Eisenhower. People who, like Dreyfuss, owe a huge amount of their outlook to such dangerous Communists and America-haters as Frank Capra and Jefferson Smith. They are, in short, flag-waving patriots every bit, if not more so, than a Tea Partier. They are quite sincere about hoping that the GOP finds its way back fro…m the abyss of nihilism into which it has hurled itself. And, I am sad to say, with rare exceptions like Robert P. George, it would be extraordinary to see somebody from the Right make a similar visit to see what the Dems are up to. The fear of contracting Liberal Cooties is too great. Good for Dreyfuss for venturing on to foreign soil to try to make common cause with fellow Americans. This is light years from the spectacle of Trump urging his brownshirts to beat up protesters. Gives me hope.”

Mark comments on the story about Richard Dreyfuss going to the GOP and looking for the Old GOP. Now what he means by Old GOP is not explained. It could be he wants that pre-Goldwater, pre-Reagan GOP that didn’t concern itself with social issues, and in fact, was often pretty far to the left as we understand it today. I don’t know. I like Mr. Dreyfuss, and admire his willingness to do homework when it comes to American history. Even if I disagree, I can respect someone who has gone the extra mile and studied what he is talking about. That doesn’t mean he hasn’t had his moments of crazy. But on the whole, I like him.

But Mark’s post is revealing. One of Mark’s major themes is that liberals are ultimately better than conservatives. At least nowadays. In fact, apart from a couple unfortunate sins that cry out to heaven for vengeance, liberals are right and awesome and hip and cool and swell and caring and kind and pure and fun and on and on. Conservatives, on the other hand, are the gun totting, Bible clinging racist, bigot Neanderthals that such esteemed publications as Huffington Post and Daily Kos suggest they are.

It’s worth noting that, on his blog CAEI, Mark insisted that part of the proof for this assumption was all the mean and horrible things conservatives said to him, and all of the terrible accusations they made against him. More than once, for example, he insisted that conservatives accused him of being secretly pro-choice. For my part, I could say many things about Mark, but I would never say he was pro-choice, secretly or otherwise. And yet Mark accused me of doing just that. No matter how I protested that I never thought of such a thing, Mark held his ground. So I often wonder just how accurately he portrayed other cases where conservatives supposedly accused him of such things. Did they? Or did he simply say they did, in a way similar to what he said about me?

But factual or not, this is one of the main reasons Mark justifies his warmness toward liberalism and liberals – even those who are passionate defenders and champions for abortion or gay marriage, blaspheme or heresy. They’re just more swell than those rascally mean and hateful conservatives.

But note the post. This is the revealing part of it all. Mark uses Mr. Dreyfuss to demonstrate some sort of unstated fact that liberals are the sane ones and good ones who really love our country and would gladly reach across party lines. I don’t know if Mr. Dreyfuss has reached out at other times or not. And I don’t have any numbers on just how many liberals would gladly support a Republican president, then or now. I only have the example in this post of Mr. Dreyfuss (and a nod Mark gives to Rachel Maddow). Mark also presents Mr. Robert George. I don’t know Mr. George, but Mark presents him as an example of Conservatives willing to reach across the aisle. But here is the telling part: Mark presents the two differently. Mr. Dreyfuss represents the best of the “Good Old Days” as well as, not too subtly, the best about liberals. Mr. George, on the other hand, is presented as some freakish exception to the unfortunate rule that most Conservatives would never be so good or awesome. Two examples, each used differently to sustain the narrative.

And that, kiddies, is how Mark does it. Just why Mark now aligns with the Left is beyond my ability to guess. In fairness, that doesn’t put him too far from the leadership of the Church as a whole. But he justifies it in large part by insisting that it’s conservatives and their wicked ways that have all but shoved him over the aisle, as opposed to liberals who are just nicer, sweller people. It’s never hard to besmirch a group of people if you see one bad example as proof of their badness, and any good examples as nothing more than some strange exception.

BTW, we should realize that Mark’s entire premise about the superiority of liberals is obviously wrong, if not downright stupid. Liberals, just like conservatives, are no better or worse as people because of where they stand on the issues. You get good. You get bad. They may be different in how they act or tend to react based on their beliefs, but the goodness and badness is going to be the same, at least on a personal level. In fact, it’s almost childish to say ‘they’re just nicer people than those people there’ based on politics or issues. People are far more complex than red state/blue state. What adult would even listen to such a thing? For every case of good liberals, I can find as many bad. And for every case of bad conservatives, I can find as many good.

If you embrace liberalism as the best method for living out the Faith, then say so. Don’t base it on the laughably inane notion that, Jesus notwithstanding, where you fall in a media generated political narrative dictates the kind of person you are. That a leading Catholic apologist rests his case on something so clearly false is troubling enough. That he continues to be lauded and praised and called to represent the Faith says more about the state of Catholic apologetics today than I care to admit.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

February 3, 2016

To Bernie Sanders

Next Post

February 3, 2016 Michael Flynn does Iowa

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Abortion Atheism Awesome things Bigotry for the hip American Blogging Books Catholic Catholic Teaching Catholics on the Internet Christian Persecution Christian Unity Christianity and America Christianity in the Post-Modern World Christianity in the world Culture of Death Culture of Life Current Events Decline and Fall of the Christian West Defending Liberty Fun Stuff Global Warming Good Causes Good News Gun Control Health Care History Holidays Homeschool Humor Important things Inspiring Stories Interesting Insights Interesting Stories Islam and the West Liberal "Tolerance" Liberal observations Life in a post-Christian world Memorial Movies Musings News Other Blogs Our Big Politically Correct Bother Politics Popular Culture Post Modern Values Prayers Pro Life Promoting LGBT Protecting Liberty Racism in the world today Scientism Social Observations Sports Strange Stories The Boys The Catholic Church and the Left The Decline and Fall of the American Dream The end of liberty The Faith and the Left The Faith and the Right The Family The Greatness of God The Internet The Leftist Juggernaut The LGBT Question The Media The Pope The post-liberal Left The Power of Propaganda Tributes Twilight of the American Experiment Uncategorized Uneducating Postmoderns When the Church is wrong Why learn from history when we can repeat it instead Wisdom in the Post Modern Age World Events

Select a Month August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said: "Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Jesus Peter James Paul