Secularism the new orthodoxy
We seem to be entering a new era in our world civilization. A new order appears to be shaping up. It looks like there’s a sustained process to set aside tradition and other things of the past.
I don’t think it’s the usual rhythm of renewal as we march on with time. I don’t even think it’s just the natural course of evolution that’s taking place and that we happen to witness one of its expected or easily understandable watersheds.
No, it looks more like mutation, a heterogeneous, completely different outgrowth from what have been so far, though you can be sure it also had its gestation period in a subculture that now tries to assert as being mainstream.
I really hope that I’m wrong here, that I’m simply exaggerating or dreaming. But there are signs around, and what look like troubling symptoms that are showing.
In the US, their new, howlingly popular president is fast changing the moral tone of society. Abortion rights are not restricted, but rather expanded. There’s even a move to withdraw the so-called “conscience rights,” supposed to protect doctors and nurses from performing things against their conscience.
In the present stem cell controversy, science, now with government backing, appears to set aside moral guidance and limits and is pursuing study, research and application as it damn pleases.
The new, intoxicating air of tolerance ushered in by the new administration is also causing a new brand of intolerance, more subtle and more deadly than what so far have been experienced.
If for some reason sin can be tolerated, at least, temporarily, it need not come in exchange of making virtue intolerable. But the latter is what is happening these days.
No less than the World Federation of Catholic Medical Associations has declared that Obama has begun his term with actions that will undermine respect for human life, human dignity and religious freedom.
He seems to be lefty in the militant sense not only on political and economic issues, but also on the social and moral ones. There are strong suspicions he is engaging in dangerous social engineering. I must say we are living through very exciting moments these days.
At this point, we seem to be caught in a riptide of contrasting currents of faith and ideologies, and we just have to resolve this turbulence one way or another, hopefully for the good of all, and with truth, justice and charity upheld.
The new orthodoxy that is emerging may be called secularism, an all embracing world-view that has as its roots a weak or absent belief in God, in all its forms—theoretical or practical, merely professed or actively lived, etc.
Secularism arises from a misunderstanding of our freedom and human autonomy, their nature, origin and purpose, their scope and range and the corresponding law that governs, but not limits, it.
It dislodges us from the orbit of our proper system where God is our sun, the center of our universe, and not our individual selves. It affects our relations with others and our attitude towards things in general. It can go deep into the capillaries of our system, where the crucial changes start to take place.
What is important now is how to brace ourselves for the challenge. Pope Benedict encourages us to engage the issue properly, that is, getting into the mind and soul of this dangerous ideology, and try to correct and purify it from within.
We cannot deal with it purely from outside. We have to enter it and go beyond it, distinguishing what is good and salvageable in it and what is outrightly wrong.
This goal is, of course, very demanding, and requires nothing less than a solid grounding in the doctrine of our faith and a tight and strong integrity of life. All aspects of our life should be held together in a consistent way.
Charity in all its forms should always prevail. In all these, nothing less than authentic sanctity and Christian maturity is required. Certainly, patience and the art of dialogue are a must. Same with the capacity to adapt and to be flexible without getting lost in the process.
Short of this would expose us to danger and could worsen the problem, as the weak or sickly condition can make the secularized world more immune to the spiritual and supernatural realities.
(Fr. Cimagala is the Chaplain of Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE), Talamban, Cebu City. Email: roycimagala@hotmail.com)