Thursday, September 21, 2006
Ratzinger Attacks Individual Conscience
The Pope has decided to play inquistor. Given that he is the former head of the congregation of the doctrine of the Faith, aka, the inquistion it is not surprising that he is slipping into his former role.
The crux of the matter is people are not listening to what the Vatican is telling them to do. Mostly because what the Vatican is saying doesn't fit into the modern experience of life. For example, "Don't use condoms" is dangerous and immoral command in the age of AIDS.
Benedict has decided to attack the concept of individual conscience. My example above shows me using my individual conscience to decide what I thought of the Vatican's doctrine. He does not want us to do this because it erodes his authority.
In a recent speech he has outlined what he thinks of individual conscience. A quote, via Daily Dish, is enlightening.
Frankly, democracy demands that we take responsibility for our actions, and we can only take responsibility if we act according to our conscience. To act according to the dictates of others is to surrender our freedom and autonomy, to become moral slaves. It becomes impossible to live morally if one does not live by one's conscience.
The crux of the matter is people are not listening to what the Vatican is telling them to do. Mostly because what the Vatican is saying doesn't fit into the modern experience of life. For example, "Don't use condoms" is dangerous and immoral command in the age of AIDS.
Benedict has decided to attack the concept of individual conscience. My example above shows me using my individual conscience to decide what I thought of the Vatican's doctrine. He does not want us to do this because it erodes his authority.
In a recent speech he has outlined what he thinks of individual conscience. A quote, via Daily Dish, is enlightening.
The subject then decides, on the basis of his experiences, what he considers tenable in matters of religion, and the subjective "conscience" becomes the sole arbiter of what is ethical. In this way, though, ethics and religion lose their power to create a community and become a completely personal matter.I know for a fact this statement is not true. I have been party to communities that have been created by people of individual conscience expressly for ethicial reasons. Greenpeace, the antiglobalization movement, and the antipoverty movement personified by Bono are all example of movements and communities built by individual conscience.
Frankly, democracy demands that we take responsibility for our actions, and we can only take responsibility if we act according to our conscience. To act according to the dictates of others is to surrender our freedom and autonomy, to become moral slaves. It becomes impossible to live morally if one does not live by one's conscience.
