As I contemplate the spectacle of the comments…

Last updated on: December 30, 2014 at 3:35 pm by Mark Shea

As I contemplate the spectacle of the comments… 2014-12-30T15:35:45-07:00 Mark Shea

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.

to this thread, particularly the conversation between Zippy and Mr. Lutas here in which Mr. Lutas advocates the “Brutal Advocacy of Mortal Sin Posing as Realism” position and attempts to sneer Zippy out of the “Catholic Moral Teaching for Time Immemorial” position by calling him a “fake Catholic” and generally questioning his integrity and testicular fortitude for saying, as the Church has always said, that you cannot deliberately killing innocent human beings. It is, as I note there, like watching moral theology being done with a meat cleaver and relies in a number of fallacies, strategies of intimidation and rhetorical strategies that, while not at all persuasive, are demonstrative of the parlous state of a lot of American conservative Catholic moral thinking under the toxic sway of consequentialism. Zippy holds his own, so I won’t gild that lily. But I will add a couple of links of my own simply because I am interested in the curious psychology that seems to consistently inform advocacy of grave intrinsic evil: namely, the tendency to call such advocacy “courage”, and the strange love such “realism” has for clinging to fantasy scenarios (such as, in this case, the fantasy scenario of “knowing” what would have happened had we not chosen to murder tens of thousands of innocent men, women, and children).

In contrast, reader Secret Agent Man actually attempts to answer the question of What Else Might We have Done in good faith and acknowledges that there were, in fact, alternatives to deliberately murdering children in their beds. Eisenhower agreed:

“During his recitation of the relevant facts, I had been conscious of a feeling of depression and so I voiced to him my grave misgivings, first on the basis of my belief that Japan was already defeated and that dropping the bomb was completely unnecessary, and secondly because I thought that our country should avoid shocking world opinion by the use of a weapon whose employment was, I thought, no longer mandatory as a measure to save American lives. It was my belief that Japan was, at that very moment, seeking some way to surrender with a minimum loss of ‘face’. The Secretary was deeply perturbed by my attitude.. “

Bottom line: I believe it is extremely dangerous (and may even be gravely sinful) to advocate the position that God makes gravely sinful acts “necessary”. I see no difference between that and saying God is evil and the author of sin. That may satisfy a Calvinist or a Manichaean. But it is blasphemous for a Catholic. I think Zippy is simply right to say:

If I may, I suggest that folks pray a novena to St. Stephen specifically over the question of how unequivocally we are to call good good and evil evil. Folks really need to get their heads on straight about what the example of the martyrs represents.

And I’ll remind everyone that the Catechism explicitly requires “unequivocal condemnation” in this case. It isn’t enough to merely concede that the Hiroshima bombing was immoral: faithful Catholics are required to unequivocally condemn such actions. This is similar to the discomfort many Catholics on the political Left may feel upon reading Evangelium Vitae: it isn’t enough to concede that abortion is immoral: it must also be made illegal, and it is also immoral to participate in any propaganda against making abortion illegal.

Uncategorized

Consequentialism on Parade

The Thing that Used to be Conservatism

Previous Post

July 26, 2012

Fausto Boop writes

Next Post

July 26, 2012 Chesterton! Reno! August 2-4, 2012! Be There!

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 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 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 March 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 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 September 2006 June 2006 July 2005 April 2005 May 2002 April 2002 0000

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz