On Slavery in the World

On Slavery in the World

One of the more difficult topics I struggle with in conversation with more liberal folks I deal with in my secular role is the subject of same-sex marriage.  There have been a number of really good books put out to deal with this subject form the Catholic Church’s perspective but we are dealing with a very sophisticated and well entrenched lobby that includes a number of national organizations that have some deep pockets.  Every time members of the Church raises a public hand and says, “Hey, wait a minute, that’s not right” or “The Church is not against the person – it is against immoral actions.”  Up pops one of the vocal minority with the well-polished rhetoric supplied by GLAAD or one of the other so-called Gay Rights groups.

Around the academically dominated environment in which I principally minister, more often than not I get called a “hater” or similar derogatory name implying that I am closed minded and backward in my world view.  I take serious issue with this since I am not the one voicing hate-speech and intolerance.  It seems ironic that society in general listens to these rants.  Perhaps it is because the media supports this jaundiced view but the fact remains, as Cardinal Dolan recently stated; “We lost the advertising war for the traditional view of marriage."

I’d like to propose a sound bite of my own to those who claim that traditional marriage is nothing more than recognition that two “people” love one another; that any group so attracted by mutual affection is in a sense a family.  A major reason I do not believe we should accept such bonds as equivalent to the heterosexual is, bluntly, I do not believe slavery is moral.

You may ask how I reached that statement from the debate on marriage.  I was reading a recent refutation of a New York Times article “The Latest Sham Science on Gay Parenting” in Crisis Magazine. It attacked an article written by Nicholas Kristof in support of same-sex marriage citing an Australian study he said “An Australian study found gay parenting had better outcomes on average, apparently because gay couples don’t have kids by accident.” I counted to 10 and said a “Hail Mary.” 

The article was well written and straight forward.  As usual, in the comments section there was a prominent voice of gay activism using the typical rhetoric referred to above.  This individual proposed that gay couples were better parents because they had to actively work to adopt them (as if children that are conceived in the normal way is somehow a side-effect of an action rather than the intent).  In this case, fortunately there was a well-schooled apologist also in the thread pointing to the fact that most gay couples who really want to have children go to fertility clinics or surrogates to achieve genetic continuity (that is they want their own genes involved in the progeny). 

Back to my statement: Slavery is not morally acceptable.  Let’s define slavery – “Condition in which one human being is owned by another.” (from Webster’s On-line Dictionary)  What can you call it when a person or couple go into a business and pay money to produce a child, a child who has no say in the matter of who pays for them?  It is akin to slavery and in 1965 the Second Vatican Council described slavery, without qualification, as an infamy that dishonored the Creator and poisoned human society/

The next time someone comes after you on the notion of same-sex marriage, just tell them that you oppose it because you don’t approve of slavery.

 

Pax

Vanishing Christians

For the past few millennia there has been a cycle of violence between Christian/Hebrews and Islam.  This, of course, was predicted in scripture (Genesis 16:12) and has come to pass.  We have come to the point in the cycle where once again a radical minority of this group has adopted the view that anyone not of their faith must either convert to it or die.  The fact that this violent minority is gaining strength is of great concern to Christians (and Hebrews).  But the world has changed.  These violent outbursts aimed at establishing secular states controlled by Islamic law have been seen by most of the non-religious governments of the world as being focused on regime change rather than violent evangelization of whole regions.

Perhaps it is because people of deep faith no longer occupy leadership positions in civil government or perhaps those that do are blinded by the political rather than the faith based issues facing places like Syria, Egypt and Nigeria.  For those of us who hear daily of Christians being murdered, churches being burned, and the general dismissal of the outcry by governments we can see that which is not obvious to those whose only ambition is political.  We see the battle raging between Christians and Islamists and wonder what to do.

At least in the case of the US government, there are a string of mistakes with regard to upsetting the delicate balance in the Middle East (if not on the African contentment as well).  Three glaring examples of missteps include the ouster of Saddam Husain in Iraq and support of those rebelling in Syria and the blind eye turned to Egypt as the Moslem Brotherhood assumed control.  In all three cases no one at the State Department asked the question; what happens to the minority Christian populations if we support a change to the status quo?  In hind sight, if they know or recognize what has happened they will not admit their mistakes.

Here is the dilemma we face.  Should we turn the other cheek and accept persecution as our lot?  Or should we do all in our power to resist?  It is the same question with any evil perpetrated by a person or organization.  Do we pray that the evil goes away or do we act?  There is the guidance from one of the great saints of our Church, Ignatius of Loyola, who famously said; “We must pray as if it were all up to God, but work as if it were all up to us.” 

The question we must ask is; How far does this exhortation extend and, morally, to what extent can one physically protect one’s self or another from physical violence?  Do we advocate sending military forces to protect populations, even though the dictatorial government is not a democracy or do we pray that the slaughter will end? One thing is certain, if we do nothing there will be no Christians left in places were Moslem extremists and Christian communities currently co-exist.   We pray for guidance on this point.

Pax